I was asked a little while ago by a family friend if I'd like to do barrels and poles at a few local shows. Her daughter is moving back down here and my friend is going to see if her daughter would like to compete... just for the fun of it... but she wants me to do it too, because if I don't, then her daughter probably won't (her daughter and I are good friends).

I told my friend that I'd like to tr it, at least. I've never competed before, I've always been a trail rider... and so has my nongaited TWH mare. Anyway, apparently it doesn't matter, as my friend is thinking about getting her daughter a greenbroke Mustang mare to train and work with and do the 'shows' with, as they're small shows for any breed of horse to enter.

However, I am interesting in just getting my mare to run the pattern, for the fun of it, regardless of whether or not we compete.

But... I don't know exactly how to go about retraining a trail horse and turning her into a 'barrel' horse... lol. I know I'm going to have to really start working on teaching her to flex, and I'll probably have to change her out of a hackamore and into a bridle with a bit... I'm also going to have to teach her to run not in a straight line, but in circles and figure eights and serpentines... I'm also going to have to figure out how to get her to stop locking her neck in place when she runs... and possibly get her out of her bucking every now and then, but that's really not much of a problem, I'm used to riding her bucks.

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